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- Welcome to POV.
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I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS
Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
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When it comes
to the American dream
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and immigrants who chase it,
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we typically hear
about the successes,
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or the rags to riches stories.
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But there are many who come here
and live pretty mundane lives
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that would still be considered
successful.
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Then, there are people
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like the main character
of tonight's film,
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whose American dream was
not only not fully realized,
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but fell far short
of what he had hoped.
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This evening, we bring you
the story of Shantha Murthy
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in tonight's film
The Gas Station Attendant.
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Shantha grew up in poverty,
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homeless and living on the
streets of Bangalore, India.
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As a boy,
he traveled the country,
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working jobs that barely
kept him fed and clothed.
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He dreamt of one day
going to America,
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and eventually,
he made it happen.
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Once he arrived, Murthy worked
a slew of different jobs,
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doing whatever he could
to support his family.
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He chased jobs in America,
like he did in his homeland,
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but found that
the American dream was elusive.
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In his later years,
he settled into work
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as a gas station attendant.
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The film's director is his
daughter, Karla Murthy,
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who was living in New York City,
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and out of concern would call
her father in Texas
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while he worked late night hours
to help him stay awake
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and to stay connected.
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She was also concerned
for his safety
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as other gas station attendants
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in Shantha's area
of Houston, Texas
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had been killed
during late-night robberies.
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Karla started recording
their phone conversations.
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Some nights, the two would be
in the middle of a conversation
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about Shantha's childhood,
and in the background,
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she would hear a customer
come in
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and listen to their
conversation,
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pausing the call so she could
visualize a slice
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of her father's life.
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On these calls, Karla would say
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her father did most
of the talking,
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and like a good storyteller
herself,
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she let him jaw
and absorbed everything.
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The director thought she might
have a documentary on her hands,
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but could never settle
on what story to tell.
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Years later,
after her father passed
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and while she was a mother
herself to a ten-year-old son,
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it came to her.
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Murthy saw a parallel
between her son and her father
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at the ages of ten.
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Her son, well cared for
and loved,
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and Shantha living
on the streets in India,
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scrounging for food and shelter
at the same age.
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It made her realize what a truly
remarkable and miraculous story
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her father's was.
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In addition to the audio
of her late-night phone calls
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with her dad,
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Murthy uses archival footage
from the streets of India
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around the time her father
was a boy,
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mixed with home movies
and her own voice,
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which narrates the film.
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The Gas Station Attendant
won a Grand Jury Prize
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in the best documentary feature
category
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at the Nashville Film Festival,
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and won a Special Mention
jury award
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at the Sheffield DocFest
in New York City.
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Murthy says her film is a story
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about being rich
outside the material sense.
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So, let's all sit back and watch
this heartfelt love letter
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from a daughter who,
thanks to her father,
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is living the American dream.
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The Gas Station Attendant
starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
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your home for independent film.